growth

May 1, 2013

The Proof of the Pudding: Denmark’s Fat Tax Fiasco

Denmark’s fat tax remains the leading example of an ambitious anti-obesity policy being tested in the real world. The results failed to match the predictions of computer models and the failed experiment has since been largely swept under the carpet in public health circles.
March 1, 2013

Euro Puppets: The European Commission’s Remaking of Civil Society

With public confidence in the European project waning, the idea of initiating a ‘civil dialogue’ with the public emerged in the mid-1990s as a way of bolstering the EU’s democratic legitimacy. Citizens have been ventriloquised through ‘sock puppet’ charities, think tanks and other ‘civil society’ groups which have been hand-picked and financed by the European Commission (EC).
November 1, 2012

Barriers to Prosperity – Developing Countries and the Need for Trade Liberalisation

Non-tariff barriers are an important impediment to trade for less developed countries. They need to be brought to the forefront of the trade debate if developing countries are to move into the export of higher value added products.
June 1, 2012

The Shadow Economy

Measurement of the shadow economy is notoriously difficult as it requires estimation of economic activity that is deliberately hidden from official transactions. Surveys typically understate the size of the shadow economy but econometric techniques can now be used to obtain a much better understanding of its size.
September 1, 2009

The ‘Google Affair’ and the Future of the Internet

Can the supply of material on the web be regulated? How to take action on content considered offensive? But above all, where does responsibility lie? Does it lie with the creator of the content, or with the infrastructure through which it flows?